The present invention relates to a method for the production of a tubular body, and to a control arm produced by this method.
The following discussion of related art is provided to assist the reader in understanding the advantages of the invention, and is not to be construed as an admission that this related art is prior art to this invention.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,810,586, issued on Nov. 2, 2004 to Waaler et al., discloses a control arm for use in the wheel suspension of a car. The arm is produced from a hollow, closed profile of high strength, extruded aluminium. The arm is produced in a wholly cold process, similar to the one used to produce aluminium fenders, involving stretch-bending, pressing, cutting and punching of the aluminium profile into the desired shape.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,470,726, issued on Oct. 29, 2002 to Murata et al., discloses an extruded article which has at least one hollow portion and changes in cross-section along a direction of an extrusion axis is manufactured by the method. The method includes the step of advancing a punch to extrude a billet while controlling a movement of a mandrel for defining an inner periphery of the hollow portion relative to a die for defining an outer periphery of the extruded article.
The manufacture of such control arms requires the implementation of several operating steps. In particular the connection zones have to be made by a separate step. As a result, cycle times for the production are prolonged and different tools and machines are required. Moreover, the required production space is increased as a result of the need for a multiplicity of tools and machines.
It would therefore be desirable and advantageous to address this problem and to obviate other prior art shortcomings.